I don't think you took a picture of that....yet! (Updated 2/24)

Hi! Welcome to my trip report! While this was my 10th WDW trip, this is only my second trip report. My first trip report tells about my Princess Half Marathon trip in March 2010. The link is in my signature if you are interested.

I did not write a pre-trip report for this trip, because there was not a whole lot of planning that took place. We booked the resorts and the dining reservations. We also picked which park to go to based on where our lunch reservations were. Since we had park hoppers, we would be free to move about the World as we saw fit throughout the trip.

We chose to eat our table service meal at lunch for a couple of reasons. The main reason was that we would not have an evening appointment to restrict us. I dont like feeling like I have to be somewhere at a certain time, so by making the timed meal at lunch, it freed up the afternoon. I also like taking a midday break if possible, so it was nice to sit at the time of day when the crowds were really starting to ramp up. We ate our counter service meals at dinner.

My husband and I took this trip from Friday, April 20th through Sunday, April 29th. The first and the last days were spent making the trek to and from Disney World by car. We stayed at 3 resorts across the 9 nights of our trip. We had 7 day Park Hoppers and 1 day without park tickets.

Along with 3 cameras and an iPhone, I brought along a little stuffed Piglet and took some pictures for yall to guess where we were&..as in, Wheres Piglet?

This day was spent driving from New Orleans to WDW. We had intended to leave sometime between 4 and 6 am in order to get an early start. HA! We are not morning people. I rationalized staying in bed by thinking that a good night’s rest is very important for driving.

We pulled out of my driveway at 8:44am. Nothing like starting 5 hours behind schedule!

It turned out to be for the best; we missed rush hour in New Orleans and we also missed the evening rush hour in the Orlando area. Turns out we also missed the severe weather Central Florida had that afternoon. We did encounter a downpour, but it was short-lived and traffic was light at the time. The only unfortunate part of the downpour was the timing of it; we knew we had a left lane exit coming up soon, but we didn't know exactly where it was. It was a little anxious because I didn't want to miss the exit, but I didn't want to drive in the left lane in a downpour!

Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama all passed pretty quickly and we made it to the Florida Welcome Center! This place gets a lot of love here on the DIS, so I was looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about.

We had really nice weather all the way in except for a downpour that only lasted for about 10 minutes.

This was my first time driving to WDW. On one hand, I missed the grand entry that the Magical Express provides. On the other hand, I enjoyed operating on our own schedule and not being bound by the baggage rules the airlines and TSA put out. Another upside is that it’s much cheaper than flying; the downside to driving is the amount of time it takes. The drive time (including stops and the time change) was almost exactly 12 hours to the minute for us.

This was my first time driving to WDW. On one hand, I missed the grand entry that the Magical Express provides. On the other hand, I enjoyed operating on our own schedule and not being bound by the baggage rules the airlines and TSA put out. Another upside is that its much cheaper than flying; the downside to driving is the amount of time it takes. The drive time (including stops and the time change) was almost exactly 12 hours to the minute for us.

Hiya neighbors (well...sorta). Just up the road from y'all near Hattiesburg, MS. By the time we drive to the airport in NOLA or Jackson, get there two hours ahead of the flight, the flight time and then the hour or so it takes to get from MCO to the resort, we've only saved about 2 1/2 hours vs driving. If we have any of the children (they are in their 20's) with us, then we drive. If it is just DW and I, it all depends on the flight (direct only) and if we can get a decent rate. Looking forward to your TR and Piglet's great adventure!

Hiya neighbors (well...sorta). Just up the road from y'all near Hattiesburg, MS. By the time we drive to the airport in NOLA or Jackson, get there two hours ahead of the flight, the flight time and then the hour or so it takes to get from MCO to the resort, we've only saved about 2 1/2 hours vs driving. If we have any of the children (they are in their 20's) with us, then we drive. If it is just DW and I, it all depends on the flight (direct only) and if we can get a decent rate. Looking forward to your TR and Piglet's great adventure!

Hello, I'm joining your trip report! Love Piglet so you sold me. Can't wait to hear more! We are also thinking of driving, but from Illinois. It's an 18 hour drive for us (booo) but with four tickets to buy, I feel it may be worth it. We shall see...

I had downloaded the song Good Life by One Direction and we were blasting it in the car as we approached WDW and our resort.

By writing "approaching our resort, I made it sound easier than it was. I have an iPhone. It has GPS on it and Google maps. We had mapped out the route to the hotel. As soon as we arrived on Disney property, the map route did not correlate with what the signs said. However, I had heard that WDW has really great signage on property, so I figured I should follow their signs! Don't do that. Just don't. Google knows better.

As a consolation for taking the scenic route to Pop Century, we got a glimpse of the new Art of Animation Resort. That was kind of exciting.

We stayed at Pop Century for two nights on a room-only reservation.

I have stayed at a Value resort before; All Star Sports. These two resorts are very similar. I am not sure which one I prefer. I found All Star Sports to be a little calmer overall. I also prefered the room decor that All Star Sports currently has. Here are some photos of our room at Pop.

Notice the small fridge!

Pop Century is a very bright resort outside, but this bathroom just might the most subduded bathroom I have seen out of all the WDW rooms I've stayed in!

The only thing not calm about that bathroom was the toilet. I think it is powered by a jet engine. I am not kidding when I say that people flushing their toilets in other rooms woke me up at night!

By itself, All Star Sports is smaller than Pop. The food court and gift shop are in separate rooms, which cuts down on the noise. I found Everything Pop to be totally over-stimulating and I just wanted to get out of there!

I actually find the decor in here far more appealing than at the All Stars, but I get the distinct feeling a bucket of confetti from the Celebrate Parade exploded in here.

I did like the theme at Pop. It was fun to see all the memory displays and walk along the lake. I also liked having the fridge at Pop. It is a new addition to the Value level amenities, and it was much appreciated. The room still lacks a ceiling fan and a coffee pot. I did not bring a fan, but I DID bring a coffee pot and all the necessary accessories to make myself a good cup of coffee each morning. (Well, most mornings, as you will see )

Sidenote: YES, that is an old refillable mug your eagle eye has caught a glimpse of. I only used it for my self-made coffee. Honest.

It was a bit after 10pm when we got to our room. We had a great location at this resort. We were in building 5, which is in the 60s section. Although it was pretty far from the parking lots (30 years away!), it was a short walk to the main building. I took a short stroll around the resort with my camera before going to bed.

We were in the building with characters from The Jungle Book. A large portion of this building is preferred, but we had a standard room.

This was taken right outside our room. We were on the second floor. If you were to walk straight down the hall, you'd end up overlooking the main pool.

Hello, I'm joining your trip report! Love Piglet so you sold me. Can't wait to hear more! We are also thinking of driving, but from Illinois. It's an 18 hour drive for us (booo) but with four tickets to buy, I feel it may be worth it. We shall see...

Anyway, can't wait to see more!!

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18 hours is a very long drive. How would the cost compare when you consider gas, food, and an extra hotel night for each direction? Driving is probably still cheaper. Flights are expensive lately.